Zach Selnes

ED 416

Bank Street Curriculum Project

“Bank Street College of Education was founded in 1916 as the Bureau of Educational

Experiments. Our founder, Lucy Sprague Mitchell, convinced that public schools were not

serving children well, set out, with a group of like-minded colleagues, to discover the

environments in which children grow and learn to their full potential, and to educate teachers

and others to create these environments. From those small beginnings as an experimental

nursery school staffed by teachers, psychologists, and researchers, Bank Street grew over the

years, adding programs and projects, more students, both adults and children, creating

materials for and about children in many media, and influencing the design and implementation

of such national educational programs as Head Start and Follow Through.” (bankstreet.edu).

The innovative nature of Bank Street is evident from its accomplishments: Bank Street helped

create The Little Golden Book series, bringing opportunities for reading into the home at a low

cost. It developed the Bank Street Readers, books for the classroom that focused on the lives of

inner-city children and Bank Street helped develop the national Head Start Program.

(banksreet.edu)

Bank Street education is designed for the children to learn by experimenting. They

continue this experimenting all the way through the upper levels of school, which is something

that is uncommon in the traditional school. The children are encouraged to make discoveries

and make the process to those discoveries meaningful. By going through this process it is
typical that a theme in Bank Street could last up to three months, which means that they will

most likely cover fewer topics then in a traditional school. While the traditional school might

cover a topic in one month, Bank Street could last up to three months. A major aspect in Bank

Street is the child as a social being.

Children in Bank Street learn about living, working and playing together by living,

working and playing together. They experience the environment around them and learn about

living through their and others experiences in the environment that they live in. In a lesson the

children might be asked to create and display a skit for the rest of the class that will teach them.

They might learn about a certain topic and then debate over it in class. Play is their means to

learn about the environment around them. In the play area the class might operate a fruit

market. Some of the children might be in charge of handling the money or being the grocers,

while others would be the shoppers. They are expected to create buildings that they see in the

community in the block area. In Bank Street it is very important that “children communicate

their ides, share their experiences, pose their questions and solve their problems in many

different group settings, because learning occurs not only when one mind tackles one problem,

but also when many minds tackle the same problem.” (Bank Street College of Education 3)

Because learning is occurring all around the children in the community, it is easy to see why

Bank Street feels that another major aspect is the sense of community. The curriculum extends

from the small groups to the whole class and then out to the community itself. They learn from

each other and learn a balance between their individual needs and the needs as whole group.

The children’s “textbooks” are the sand, wood, play-dough, clay, crayons or markers that they

use each and every day.

 The main goals of Bank Street are to educate the child as a “whole” child. They want to

educate the intellectual, emotional and physical aspects. This is like most curriculums, but Bank

Street is different because they want the child to interact with their environment and in return

interpret their experiences. They might interpret their experiences through writing about it,

making a skit about it, or just talking about it to the rest of the class.

There are picture books displayed all over the classroom that promote not only literacy

but also are culturally diverse. At Bank Street the children do a weekly library visit, were they

are read a special story and are able to pick out a book to bring home. They will learn about

communication and the expression about themselves, others and the world around them. They

will have an appreciation of the points of views of others. They will also be able to make the

connection between the spoken and written world.

The materials used to promote mathematics are unit blocks, pegs and pegboards,

pattern blocks, design cubes, playing cards and many other manipulatives. These are embedded

in the daily experiences and core curriculum at Bank Street. Science is encouraged to develop

for the students to ask questions and to respect their natural and physical environments.

Children investigate, manipulate, discuss, record and make predictions about what they are

learning. They might explore cause and effect, how organisms change or relationships between

form and function. Teachers are able to promote science by letting the children plant and grow

seeds, collect natural sample from the environment and take field trips.

There are many field trips taken throughout the year at Bank Street. These trips could

be to farms and farmer markets, or aquariums, where the children learn about different fish.

They also take frequent trips around the community. This gives the children a chance to see
where they live and what is around them. They are able to bring what they see on these trips

back to the classroom and discuss or help plan curriculum around them.

There are many opportunities for the children to explore in art at Bank Street. They are

able to paint, draw, and play with clay or in the wood working area. The teachers are able to

see the children progress from integrated shapes to lines and colors over the school year. The

children are also able to explore music on a regular basic through movement, songs, dancing

and exploring instruments. Each class is able to sing with the music teacher once a week and

gets to visit the music room weekly also. In the School of Bank Street the children are also able

to meet with the Spanish teacher weekly and in small groups. In many instances the Spanish

and music teacher work together to promote Spanish songs for the children. In physical play

the children are able to explore what their bodies can do. They learn to let go and control their

bodies. During physical education the teachers use this time to help promote social learning by

introducing team games.

The teachers design their curriculum so that it will lead the children to make discoveries.

Since community is such a huge part of the curriculum the teachers put a genuine effort to

represent those in the community. The teacher acts as a guide-facilitator with expectations.

They will guide the topic along by planning curriculum that will lead to questions by the

children. The teachers will bring in curriculum about the community that will enable the

children to bring in their own experiences. The teachers learn about the children through a

variety of observations; from arrival to departure the teachers are continually observing and

learning about the children in their classroom. Like most teachers in any curriculum, Bank

Street promotes a sense of fairness and builds positive partnerships with the families. They also
provide concrete opportunities that will teach the students new and solid information that they

can teach in the classroom. They focus on the concrete visible world around them, when

designing lessons and take in the child’s daily experiences and developmental needs in order to

grab the children into the curriculum. Some assessments that are used in the Bank Street

classroom are early childhood environmental rating scale, infant toddler environmental rating

scale and the program administrators scale; which will help in developing the professional

developmental plan.

The classrooms in Bank Street are broken down into the 3’s classroom, which is the

nursery, the 4/5’s, which is the Pre-Kindergarten classroom and the 5/6’s, which is the

Kindergarten classroom. The environment is the center of all learning and offers an emotional

security for the children. The subject areas are all clearly defined and the concept of the self-

regulated classroom will influence the schedule and classroom organization. The classroom at

Bank Street is able to promote an academically rich environment through designing and

implementing programs and producing high quality curriculum materials. Bank Street also

offers tutoring, parenting education, adult education and college prep for children, youth and

adults.

After researching Bank Street Curriculum, I would use it in the classroom. I am a firm

believer that children learn through their interaction with the real world, and Bank Street

teaches through real-life experiences. They start early with letting children express themselves

through their experiences in the community, family and school settings. Developing curriculum

through observing the students and knowing their experiences is an excellent way to bring the

children into the topic and let them be very much in charge of where the topic will go by
discussing their thoughts and experiences. By having social studies be the core aspect, I believe

that the children will learn more, because they are able to relate to what they are learning

through concrete experiences and things around them. There are lots of hands on experiences,

through play or trips around town. I think that this also is an excellent way for the children to

learn, it also lets them see certain things in their community they might not be able to see.

Bringing things that they are surrounded by will be essential in them holding onto and valuing

what they are learning. I also like the way there is a Spanish teacher involved in the classroom.

Children at this young of an age are at a prime time to learn and incorporating a Spanish

teacher is a good way for children to get that diversity in the classroom and learn about

different cultures. I also like how there are many different things for the children to learn from,

such as lots of picture books, and math manipulatives. Bank Street seems very demanding on

the emergent literacy on the child, and I do not believe that all children will be able to

understand the concepts. I do believe that the child needs to be challenged and able to express

themselves but, understanding to express oneself and see other peoples points of view is a

huge concept for young children to grasp. I do believe that Bank Street knows that all children

develop at different times and that those concepts are something that need to be learned, but I

feel that getting a three year old to understand that might be a challenge. However, overall I

think Bank Street has lots of positives and I would definitely use it in the classroom.
References

Biber, Barbara. (1977). A Developmental-Interaction Approach: Bank Street College of

Education. In M.C. Day and R.K. Parker (Eds.). The Preschool in Action: Exploring Early Childhood

Programs, 2nd ed., Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon, Inc.

Biber, Barbara. (1973, November 27). What Is Bank Street? Talk at a lunch for visiting

educators.

Mitchell, Ann, and David, Judy (Eds.). (1992). Explorations With Young Children: A Curriculum

Guide From the Bank Street College of Education. Mt.Ranier, MD: Gryphon House.

Zimiles, Herbert. (1987). The Bank Street Approach. In Roopnarine, Jaipal, L. (Ed.), Approaches

to Early Childhood Education. Columbus, OH: Merrill Publication Company.

In About Bank Street. Retrieved from http://www.bankstreet.edu/aboutbsc/

In School for Children. Retrieved from http://www.bankstreet.edu/sfc/index.html

In Bank Street College of Education. Retrieved from http://www.bnkst.edu/